Smoking Cessation Program Convinces Smokers to "Quit While You're Ahead"

Dr. Phil Michels conducts a session of the “Quit While You’re Ahead” smoking cessation program.

Fortunately for residents of Richland, Lexington and Fairfield counties there is an innovative resource to help them kick the habit. Developed by the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, “Quit While You’re Ahead” is a free smoking cessation program that combines medical intervention with a class setting to provide the motivation and education that smokers need to quit.

Before participants attend the six sessions over a three-week period, each undergoes a physical exam by Dr. Gary Ewing, associate professor and co-director of the program. Free prescriptions of Zyban or nicotine replacement therapy are offered, with the majority of the participants choosing to use one of the two medications.

‘The whole goal is to transform the way people think about a cigarette,” said Phil Michels, Ph.D., full professor and the program’s other co-director. Instructors dole out information in small increments, allowing participants to digest and discuss the facts they learn about smoking and its long-term consequences. “People link smoking with pleasurable experiences like drinking coffee, and view it as a friend even though it’s killing them,” said Dr. Ewing.

According to the American Cancer Society, tobacco smoking is thought to be responsible for eight out of 10 cases of lung cancer, with lung cancer being the leading cause of cancer death for both sexes. Smoking is also linked to other types of cancers, including those of the mouth and bladder. “There is nothing you could do to reduce the rates of cancer more than to attack the smoking issue,” said Dr. Ewing.

The appeal of smoking is undermined when participants experience the smell of a jar full of old cigarette butts, watch a film about smokers with throat and neck cancer, and examine a diseased lung displayed in a Ziploc bag. Between sessions participants are asked to complete homework assignments that continue the thought process they started in class. “We’re trying to get smokers to take a good look and see that there really is nothing that they want from a cigarette,” Dr. Michels said.

By the tenth day after class has begun, participants are expected to stop smoking, an objective that between 75 and 85 percent of them achieve. When temptation gets overwhelming, classmates are encouraged to call on each other for help. “As with any behavioral change, when you have other people around doing the same thing the success goes up dramatically,” said Dr. Ewing. Follow-up surveys done six to 18 months after the completion of the course find 50 percent of graduates still abstaining, a rate that is two and one-half times more effective than the national average for smoking cessation programs. A maintenance program is available on Thursday nights to help any former participant who is still struggling. “We do everything we can to help them stop,” said Dr. Ewing.” He added, “When anyone quits, it makes our day – and makes their life.”

To register for “Quit While You’re Ahead,” call 296-CARE. Several new classes start every month, with the program also offered on-site for Midlands area businesses.

Reprinted from Connections newsletter, March 2004

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